Blog
Article Collection
Study reveals increased heat risks for workers
In September, Freya Newman and I launched the final report on our project investigating the impact of high heat and climate change on members or the United Workers Union (UWU). The launch was part of the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ (ACTU) Climate Safety...
Social welfare and those impacted by the West Gate disaster
My research collaborator Sarah Gregson and I recently published an article about the impact of the collapse of the West Gate Bridge on the families of those killed, focussing on how the main social welfare agency dealt with the widows. From our West Gate Project...
Anti-politics: Hypotheses, Evidence and Trends
In the Summer 2020/2021 issue of the Journal of Australian Political Economy, I published an article on anti-politics with Simon Copland and Luke Mansillo. We examine potential evidence for anti-politics in electoral fragmentation in Australia. We use the approach...
Heat stress, work and climate change
As part of a UTS research team, I have released a new report with the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, looking at the impacts of heat stress on workers in Australia. Prepared by UTS researchers as part of the Too Hot to Work Project, the report outlines...
The bridge that fell: Melbourne’s West Gate 50 years on
For the 50th anniversary of the West Gate Bridge Disaster — on 15 October 2020 — my collaborator Sarah Gregson and I worked with comics-journalist and cartoonist Sam Wallman, and writer and editor Jacinda Woodhead. A piece based on our research and the story of the...
Debating the Accord, the union and neoliberalism
The May issue of the journal Labour History carried a roundtable discussion of my book How Labour Built Neoliberalism. The special section 'Assessing the Accord and Labour’s Role in Neoliberalism' (paywalled) features contributions from Frank Bongiorno (ANU), Ian...
Will freezing nurses and midwives’ wages really help the economy?
This article was originally written for the members of the NSW Nurses & Midwives Association, and published in The Lamp on May 25, 2020. Not only is it pretty nasty to suggest a freeze to the wages of nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers while they are on...
The false promise of a national universities deal
By Elizabeth Humphrys and Amy Thomas Union members in the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) are in the midst of a turbulent debate over a proposed national Jobs Protection Framework (JPF). Universities have been excluded from the JobKeeper scheme just as...